Dweller

Small pets that live on your Mac desktop and barely use a thing.

Free, for macOS 13 or later

Go on, pick one up.

The resident

Wick

Mastered every element. Uses them to make tea.

He came with the place. Everyone else moved in later. Open Dweller and he is the first one out.

The cast

Guards, monks, sailors, a golem. Each one walks, waves, hops and has a small job it does all day. Point at one to see the job. Click it and it hops out onto the page.

The Watch

15 pets

  • Warden

    Kept the gate for forty years. Now keeps you company.

  • Paladin

    Sworn to protect. Currently on break.

  • Jester

    Paid to be funny. Mostly just here.

  • Smith

    Will fix it. Eventually.

  • Bard

    Knows one song. It is a long one.

  • Crusader

    Walked a very long way. Would rather not discuss it.

  • Sable

    Very intimidating. Mostly waiting for someone to ask.

  • Beekeeper

    Calm is a professional requirement.

  • Coffer

    Not what it looks like. Exactly what it looks like.

  • Doctor

    Here to check on you. From a distance.

  • Drake

    Part knight, part lizard, entirely calm.

  • Hedge

    Knows many spells. Uses almost none.

  • Mason

    Looks at empty space and sees a town.

  • Outlaw

    Takes from the busy and gives to the idle.

  • Witch

    Curses are by appointment only.

Rising Sun

13 pets

  • Komuso

    Nobody has seen the face. Nobody has asked.

  • Ashigaru

    Was told to hold this position. Is holding it.

  • Oni

    Meant to be terrifying. Did not get the memo.

  • Ronin

    A wandering swordsman who would rather sit quietly than fight.

  • Kitsune

    Older than it looks. Much older.

  • Shinobi

    You will not notice it most of the time.

  • Kabuto

    Commands ten thousand men. They are elsewhere.

  • Kappa

    Will challenge you to wrestle. Will accept a cucumber instead.

  • Kendoka

    Has practiced this ten thousand times. Would like to practice it again.

  • Tanuki

    Shapeshifter. Mostly shifts into a nap.

  • Tengu

    Proud of the nose. Do not mention the nose.

  • Yurei

    Has unfinished business. Is in no hurry to finish it.

  • Miko

    Keeps the place tidy. Spirits included.

North Sea

12 pets

  • Shieldmaiden

    Has seen worse than your inbox.

  • Berserker

    Saving the rage for later. Much later.

  • Skald

    Will tell you how it happened. At length.

  • Norse

    Rowed a long way to sit on your screen.

  • Seer

    Knows how this ends. Is not saying.

  • Valkyrie

    Here to carry off the worthy. Still looking.

  • Vendel

    Buried with honors. Got bored.

  • Draugr

    Guarding the treasure. Forgot where it is.

  • Jarl

    Ruled wisely. Now delegates everything.

  • Raven

    Reports everything it sees. To whom is unclear.

  • Troll

    Lives under the bridge. The bridge is your taskbar.

  • Wolf

    Was tied up once. Remembers it.

Old Empires

12 pets

  • Oracle

    The answer is unclear. Ask again later.

  • Scribe

    Writing all of this down.

  • Gladiator

    Retired undefeated. From what, he will not say.

  • Hoplite

    Holds the line. Mostly holds still.

  • Legion

    Marches when told. Was not told.

  • Emperor

    Thumbs up or thumbs down. He is still deciding.

  • Jackal

    Weighing your choices. So far, they are light.

  • Mummy

    Slept for three thousand years. Still tired.

  • Pharaoh

    Rules a very small kingdom.

  • Sphinx

    Has a riddle for you. It can wait.

  • Cyclops

    Lost an argument with a sailor. Doing better now.

  • Minotaur

    Finally got out of the maze. Misses it a little.

High Seas

12 pets

  • Surfer

    Brought his own wave. Falls off it regularly.

  • Keeper

    Keeps a light on for you.

  • Deckhand

    Swabs the desk. Poorly.

  • Diver

    Came up for air. Stayed.

  • Angler

    Has not caught anything. Is not worried.

  • Captain

    Lost the ship. Kept the hat.

  • Mermaid

    Came up to see what the noise was. It was you typing.

  • Navigator

    Knows exactly where you are. You are at your desk.

  • Smuggler

    Nothing to declare.

  • Wraith

    Went down with the ship. Came back up without it.

  • Gull

    Stole it fair and square.

  • Kraken

    Sinks ships. This one is a toy. For now.

Bestiary

15 pets

  • Golem

    Was told to wait here. That was a while ago.

  • Wyrmling

    Will be enormous one day. Not today.

  • Griffin

    Half eagle, half lion, fully unbothered.

  • Gargoyle

    Prefers a ledge. Yours will do.

  • Goblin

    Finders keepers.

  • Imp

    Maximum mischief. Minimum reach.

  • Lich

    Plotting the end of the world. Lost his notes.

  • Phoenix

    Has done all this before.

  • Sapling

    Will be a forest eventually. Be patient.

  • Scarecrow

    Took one day off. Kept going.

  • Shade

    Nobody is quite sure what it does. It seems happy.

  • Unicorn

    Extremely rare. Stands here all day anyway.

  • Yeti

    Rarely seen. You are seeing it now.

  • Hound

    Guards the gate. Three opinions about how.

  • Wisp

    Follow it if you like. It is not going anywhere.

More are on the way.

Tiny by design

A pet on your desktop should not cost you anything you would notice. So Dweller does as little as it can.

14 MB

of memory with four pets out. An empty Mac app takes about 12 MB.

0%

CPU while the pets idle, breathe and blink.

0.1 to 0.6%

CPU while they walk across your screen.

Under 1

wakeup a second with four pets idle.

The system animates them. The app sleeps.

Dweller hands the drawing and the walking to the Mac’s compositor, then waits. It wakes only when a pet decides to do something new.

Measured on the developer’s Mac.

Yours to control

Drag a pet anywhere on your screen and it stays there, wandering at that height. Leave one up by the menu bar and another just above the Dock.

You decide how many come out, how big they are, how lively they are, and whether Dweller checks for updates.

Try it here. Every pet on this page can be picked up and put down somewhere else.

Pet size

Bring your own

Dweller works with Codex-format pets. Drop a pet folder onto the Dweller window and the pet moves in.

my-pet
  • pet.json
  • spritesheet.webp
One row of a spritesheet: the Warden standing guard, frame by frame.
A pet is a folder with one spritesheet: rows of frames for idling, walking, waving and the rest.
Drop the folder on the window. There it is.

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. Dweller is free. Updates are free too, and optional paid add-ons are coming later.

What does it need?

A Mac running macOS 13 or later.

Does it phone home?

Only to ask whether there is a newer version. At most once a week it fetches one small file from dweller.pet, with nothing about you or your Mac attached, and you can switch that off in its options. There is no account and no telemetry, and your pets stay on your Mac.

Will it slow my Mac down?

Here is what it uses, measured on the developer’s Mac: about 14 MB of memory with four pets out, 0% CPU while they idle, and about 0.1 to 0.6% while they walk. The system’s compositor does the moving, so the app can sleep.

Can I add my own pets?

Yes. Dweller works with Codex-format pets. Drop a pet folder onto the Dweller window and it appears on your desktop. You can have as many out at once as you like.

Bring one home

One small download. As many pets as you like.

Free, for macOS 13 or later